Bast crops processing line

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an apparatus for primary processing of bast-fiber crops and can be used to obtain the same type straw fibers and shives or flax and hemp fibers. The bast crops processing line consists of the sequentially installed recoiling machine, dividing and scutching machine, breaking machine, the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing tow shaker and shive-fiber waste transportation system, while the latter is fitted with a crushing device. The dividing and scutching machine makes it possible to form a layer of raw material with a definite and optimal density for processing, to card and separate shives from fibers. The machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing provides an intensive separation of shives from fibers, considerably facilitating further separation of free shives in the tow shaker. The crushing device improves reliability of the chive-fiber waste transportation system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a national stage application from the PCT application PCT/UA2018/000040 filed Apr. 25, 2018, which claims priority to Ukranian application No. a201707867 filed Jul. 27, 2017, all of which incorporated herein by reference by their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus for primary processing of bast-fiber crops and can be used to obtain the same type straw fibers and shives or flax and hemp fibers. Moreover, the invention makes it possible to obtain fibers with low shive content.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One of the commonly known tow preparing apparatuses is the KPML-2M apparatus, Markov V.V. Initial processing of linen and other bast crops; Markov V.V. Light and food industry, 1981-376 c., which consists of a divider, breaking machine, scutching sections, tow shaker and pneumatic conveying system. Raw material processing by using the KPML-2M tow preparing apparatus allows obtaining high-quality short fibers and shives. However, due to the large number of mechanisms included in the apparatus, the processing line has high energy and metal intensity.

Another well-known machine is the apparatus for processing of flax straw, and also straw opener and drum therefor Pat. 398 421 European Patent Office, Int. CI.5 D01B 1/14, D01B 1/24, D01B 1/28. Apparatus for processing flax straw, and also straw opener and drum therefor/Leutscher, Hendrik Jakob; applicant: Instituut voor bewaring en verwerking van landbouwprodukten.—90201168.3; Date of filing: 8 May 1990; Date of publication of application: 22 Nov. 1990, Bull. 90/47, in which the process of high-quality separation of flax fibers from the shives is carried out by using one or more beating drums for flax straw processing. This apparatus provides a high-quality separation of wood parts of the flax straw stems from the bast parts and allows to equally effectively process raw materials with different physical and mechanical characteristics by installing one or more beating drums on the machine. However, this apparatus is designed to process only one type of raw material—flax straw.

There is a well-known line for enriching fibers of bast-fiber crops which includes a recoiling machine and layer-forming machine comprising a spiked feeder, breaking machine with two pairs of breaking variable-speed slatted rollers with a velocity shear between them, shaking vibration device and disintegrator (Patent No. 42279, Ukraine, IPC (2009), D01B 1/00. Method for obtaining enriched fibers of bast-fiber crops/S. P. Koropchenko, B. I. Moskalenko, K. M. Klievtsov, O. A. Soboliev. Date of filing: 2 Nov. 2009; Date of publication of application: 26 Apr. 2010, Bull. No. 8).

The disadvantage of such a line is that the process of shives separation is more complicated and that the shives are discharged (in the sense of “extracted”) only at the last stage of fiber processing. The spiked feeder does not perform carding and scutching functions, nor separate and extract free shives. It only separates portions of raw materials from the original layer of raw materials, thus creating conditions for the following operations of raw materials layer processing. As a result, the raw materials layer remains unparallelized and with the initial shives content throughout the entire processing process. And this, in turn, complicates the process of breaking and separating shives, as practical studies have shown that the best effectiveness of the breaking process can be achieved when the bast fiber complexes are parallelized and, at the same time, oriented as close as possible to the direction of movement of the raw materials layer (that is, maximally perpendicular to the axes of rollers of the breaking machine). Consequently, such a line does not make it possible to obtain fibers with a guaranteed high degree of purification from the shives.

Another commonly known machine is the line for producing the same-type flax fibers, which consist of layer-forming, breaking, shaking and two scutching sections, with the first scutching section being installed after the layer-forming section and the second scutching section being installed after the breaking section. The line for producing the same-type flax fibers provides for increasing the number of impacts while reducing their intensity through two scutching sections present and straightening and parallelizing of fibers, reducing the weight inequality and shive content in the layer by applying the mechanism of rearrangement of the layer after the second scutching stage (Yu. F. Lachuga, M. M. Kovalev, A. P. Apykhin, Achievements in science and technology APK, 2012, 12, p. 68-70).

The disadvantage of this line is also that the process of shives separation is more complicated and that the shives are extracted only at the last stage of fiber processing. The inventors note that their line performs straightening and parallelization, however these processes take place at the penultimate stage of processing the bast-fiber complexes. That is, the bast-fiber complexes are not parallelized in the course of their processing in the layer-forming section, first scutching section, breaking section and second scutching section. The bast-fiber complexes get straightened out and parallelized by the mechanism of rearrangement of the layer applied only after the second scutching stage. Straightened and partially parallelized fibers are fed into the final stage of processing—shaking section. As a result, the process of straightening and parallelization of fibers taking place at the penultimate stage of processing together with the process of shives extraction taking place at the final stage of processing the bast-fiber complexes do not provide for obtaining fibers with a guaranteed high degree of purification from the shives and high efficiency of the line.

There is also a widely known apparatus for processing of bast crop stems, Patent 68195, Ukraine, IPC (2012.01), A01D 45/00. Apparatus for processing bast crop stems/B. I. Moskalenko, R. N. Hiliazetdinov, S. P. Koropchenko. Date of filing: 27 Dec. 2010; Date of publication of application: 26 Mar. 2012, Bull. N^(o) 6.-4p. The apparatus consists of a recoiling machine, breaking machine, drum scutcher and carder, tow shaker, raw fibers collector with a measuring device mounted on a single mobile platform. The breaking machine is fitted with slatted rollers with velocity step between them and the tow shaker is equipped with a vibrating device.

The latter is used for processing different types of raw materials: straw or treated linen flax and hemp fibers arranged in parallel or chaotically. Besides, it has low energy and metal intensity and can be removed to the places where raw materials are concentrated. However, during processing, a too thick layer of raw materials is formed. As a result, the shives content in the fibers exceeds the threshold limit values.

This solution is the closest analog to the invention by the technical essence and achieved result and, therefore, can be taken as a prototype.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention was made according to the prior art described above, and the object of the present invention is to improve the apparatus for processing bast crop stems by changing the set of machines and applying new technical solutions to improve its performance and obtain fibers with a guaranteed high degree of purification from the shives.

To solve the problem, the present invention provides the bast crops processing line consisting of a recoiling machine (1), breaking machine (4), tow shaker (7) and shive-fiber waste transportation system (8), where, according to the invention, after the recoiling machine (1) a layer-forming and scutching machine (3) is installed and the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5) is installed after the breaking machine (4), with the layer-forming and scutching machine (3), breaking machine (4) and tow shaker (7) being designed to be capable to remove free shives and each being connected directly to the shive-fiber waste transportation system (8); machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5) is equipped with a static stator and rotor with rotating blades, with the rotor and stator of the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5), when interacting, break long bast fiber complexes into shorter ones and create an air stream used to transport raw fibers from the breaking machine (4) to the tow shaker (7), and the shive-fiber waste transportation system (8) is equipped with a crushing device (9) installed under the layer-forming and scutching machine (3).

The layer-forming and scutching machine (3) installed immediately after the recoiling machine (1) makes it possible to form a raw material (10) layer with a definite and optimal density for processing. The layer-forming and scutching machine (3) comprises a scutching drum, which simultaneously forms a raw material layer, performs carding and separates shives from fibers. Besides, according to the claimed invention, the layer-forming and scutching machine (3) is designed with the possibility of discharging (in the sense of “total removal”, “extraction”) free shives into the waste transportation system (8). Accordingly, the layer-forming and scutching machine (3) is connected directly to the shive-fiber waste transportation system (8). As a result, enriched and partly paralleled raw fibers are fed into the breaking machine. Moreover, the breaking machine (4) and the tow shaker (7) are designed with the possibility of separating free shives and each of them is connected directly to the shive-fiber waste transportation system (8).

Consequently, to carry out the following shives separation operations, less stringent processing modes, less powerful and less metal and energy-consuming equipment will be required. All of the foregoing contributes to the effectiveness of the process of separating shives from fibers and provides the opportunity to process raw materials (10) with a wide range of density in a roll.

The machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5) installed after the breaking machine (4) provides an intensive separation of shives from fibers, considerably facilitating further separation of free shives in the tow shaker (7). Besides, during the scutching process without pressing long bast fibers are broken into shorter ones, allowing for easy further processing of the obtained fiber. Through the static stator and rotor's rotating blades the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5) creates an air stream used to transport raw fibers from the breaking machine (4) to the tow shaker (7). That is, the rotor, the main purpose of which is to process raw materials (10), also performs the function of its transportation, which is an additional function of the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5) and contributes to a more effective performance of the claimed line.

The shive-fiber waste transportation system (8) is fitted with a crushing device (9), which reduces the risk of clogging the air ducts with large shive particles formed during processing of certain types of raw materials (10), including hemp. The crushing device (9) improves reliability of the shive-fiber waste transportation system (8). The crushing device (9) is installed under the layer-forming and scutching machine (3), where the most intense separation of shives from fibers takes place.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated by the drawing, where

FIG. 1 depicts a scheme of the bast crops processing line.

The line consists of a recoiling machine (1), ventilation system (2), layer-forming and scutching machine (3), breaking machine (4), machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5), cyclone separator (6), tow shaker (7), shive-fiber waste transportation system (8) and crushing device (9).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The processing line works as follows: the raw material (10) from the recoiling machine (1) is fed into the layer-forming and scutching machine (3), where the layer of raw material (10) is first thinned, then the raw material (10) is scutched and carded and after that separation of shives and raw material (10) is performed. The formed layer of raw material (10) passes to the breaking machine (4), where its intensive breaking with simultaneous drawing, abrasion and thinning is performed. The crushed and partly separated from the shive raw material (10) enters the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5), where the stator and rotor's blades (not shown on the drawing) intensively separate shives from fibers and break long bast fibers into shorter ones. Then, the shive-fibre mix passes to the cyclone separator (6), where it is separated from the air flow created by the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing (5). From the cyclone separator (6), the shive-fibre mix is fed into the tow shaker (7), where the final separation of fibers from free shives takes place. The dust generated during the recoiling, fiber layer forming, scutching, carding and breaking operations is collected and removed from the working area through the ventilation system (2). During the fiber layer forming, breaking and shaking operations, shives and fiber fragments are separated from the raw fibers, which are removed from the working zones by the shive-fiber waste transportation system (8). The shive-fiber waste transportation system (8) is fitted with the crushing device (9), which increases its operational reliability. The crushing device (9) is installed under the layer-forming and scutching machine (3), where the most intense separation of shives from fibers takes place.

Experts in this area understand that the present invention may be changed and amended, but it will not alter the nature of the invention. Accordingly, the patent claim is assumed to include all the variations related to the nature and scope of the invention. The parts of the bast crops processing line represented on the FIG. 1, in claim and in this description are used as general. Instead of the represented parts of the bast crops processing line other alternative and/or equivalent parts may be used.

A sample of the line has been created on the basis of the invention. Experimental tests of the sample confirmed the working capacity of the proposed scheme. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A bast crops processing line, comprising: a recoiling machine, a breaking machine, a tow shaker and a chive-fiber waste transportation system, wherein after the recoiling machine a layer-forming and scutching machine is installed and a machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing is installed after the breaking machine, with the layer-forming and scutching machine, the breaking machine and the tow shaker are able to remove free shiver and each being connected directly to the chive-fiber waste transportation system; wherein the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing is equipped with a static stator and a rotor with rotating blades, with the rotor and the stator of the machine for scutching raw fibers without pressing, when interacting, break long bast fiber complexes into shorter ones and create an air stream used to transport raw fibers from the breaking machine to the tow shaker, and the chive-fiber waste transportation system is equipped with a crushing device installed under the layer-forming and scutching machine. 